‘Friendly Fire’ features one of the last recorded vocal parts by late Chester Bennington
“We’re pullin’ apart for no reason // We’re pullin’ a trigger in a useless war”, sings Chester Bennington in the just-released track ‘Friendly Fire’. The song was originally recorded by Linkin Park in One More Light sessions in 2017 but didn’t make the cut to the main album tracklist. It was supposed to be released as a B-side at a later date. The “later date” is finally here.
‘Friendly Fire’ marks one of the last vocal recordings by late frontman Chester Bennington, who committed suicide the year it was recorded. Genre-wise, the track lies in the electro-pop realm of One More Light album, unsurprisingly. Linkin Park decided to include the track into their upcoming best-of album, titled Papercuts (Singles Collection 2000-2023), due for release April 12 via Warner Records.
Papercuts contains a range of tracks, from iconic ‘Crawling’ to such rarities as ‘Friendly Fire’ and ‘QWERTY’. Papercuts is available for preorders at this location.
LP guitarist Brad Delson puts ‘Friendly Fire’ among the band’s favorites from One More Light sessions. “Something about it wasn’t quite right, so as close as it got to the finish line, we chose to set it aside for later,” he remembers. “When we started looking for an unreleased track to include on our greatest hits collection, I was blown away by the power of the song, the power of the storytelling, the power of the vocal, the sonic landscape, and I actually thought that it was closer than maybe we had realized at the time.
“We got together to work on it and connect some of the missing pieces that for whatever reason hadn’t revealed themselves during the recording of One More Light. I can’t wait for people to hear it. It’s such a beautiful, compelling, heartbreaking, hopeful story, and it really resonates with me today.”
Be sure to give ‘Friendly Fire’ a listen and check out the song lyrics below:
‘Friendly Fire’ Lyrics
Tell me the words I’ve forgotten
What we were fighting for
Staring right into the darkness
Through an empty open door
Can’t put back what’s been broken
Can’t change the moment
We went too far
[Chorus]
We’re pullin’ apart for no reason
We’re pullin’ a trigger in a useless war
And if we come back and go into the black (Black)
What are we fighting for?
What are we fighting for?
I was supposed to protect you
No matter what’s to come
But somehow forgot when they told me
“We hurt thе ones we love”
Can’t put back what’s been brokеn
Can’t change the moment
We went too far
[Chorus]
We’re pullin’ apart for no reason
We’re pullin’ a trigger in a useless war
And if we come back and go into the black
What are we fighting for?
What are we fighting—?
It’s just friendly fire, fire
Fire, fire
[Bridge]
We’re strangers in between the darkness
Diving underneath
I’ll find you out on the horizon
We’ll never be enemies
Can’t put back what’s been broken
Can’t change the moment
We went too far
[Chorus]
We’re pullin’ apart for no reason
We’re pullin’ a trigger in a useless war
And if we come back and go into the black
What are we fighting for?
What are we fighting—?
[Post-Chorus: Chester Bennington]
It’s just friendly fire, fire
Fire, fire
Fire, fire
Fire, fire
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